[NEWS]
Monday January 27 4:05 PM EST
INTERVIEW-- U S Robotics Inc defends x2 modem
By Susan Nadeau
CHICAGO, Jan 27 (Reuter) - U.S. Robotics president and chief operating officer John McCartney rebuffed claims that the modem maker's new high-speed modem technology does not work as planned.
"The technology works fine," McCartney said in a recent interview. "There is no issue despite the smokescreens raised by our competitors about this working."
Trade publications and some analysts have suggested the technology will not work on conventional lines or will not be able to reach the promised download speeds.
U.S. Robotics is in a transition to technology that allows information to be downloaded at speeds of 56 kilobits per second. It is called x2, because it is about twice as fast as the typical 28.8 kbps modems currently in the market.
The company said, however, that due to Federal Communications Commission regulations on signal levels, the modems that are due to ship in the next couple of weeks will be limited to top speeds of 53 kbps -- less than the 56 kbps initially promised. They said the 56 kbps technology, however, does work.
"The modems about to ship are limited to 53 K(bps)," Karen Novak, a spokeswoman for U.S. Robotics said.
But Novak and McCartney noted all U.S. Robotics products have FCC approval.
Novak said the company hopes to work with the communications industry and the FCC in clearing the way for the 56 kbps modem technology.
U.S. Robotics said it will ship both the desktop modems and the network system hubs, used by Internet Service Providers and online services, in February.
Novak said the company still considers itself "on target", though it had previously said it expected to ship the desktop modems in January.
McCartney said the company has tested the technology on more than 20,000 telephone lines in several hundred area codes, including every U.S. telephone geographic region.
He said 90 percent of network configurations allow for the technology to work, a number expected to grow as networks become more digital. He said the "vast majority" of users get speeds over 50 kbps, but declined to give specific numbers.
"We wouldn't be making such a big deal about this unless we were absolutely confident that customers are going to be delighted by the results they see when they begin to use these products," McCartney said.
McCartney said the company expects the modem market to be strong long-term but is not wearing blinders.
For example, U.S. Robotics is "very bullish", he said, about its opportunity to provide communications code or programs for platforms other than the typical modem. Intel Corp new MMX chip, for example, has the capability to provide various functions, including communications.
The company is also active in developing new products for high-speed, broadband technology, McCartney said.
"But, no matter what forecast you look at, the vast majority of connections worldwide will be analog through the end of century," he said.
--Chicago newsdesk, 312-408-8787 |
